DOCSLIB.ORG

THE RELATION of PHYSICIANS to EARLY AMERICAN GEOLOGY by WILLIAM BROWNING, Ph.B., M.D

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE RELATION of PHYSICIANS to EARLY AMERICAN GEOLOGY by WILLIAM BROWNING, Ph.B., M.D THE RELATION OF PHYSICIANS TO EARLY AMERICAN GEOLOGY By WILLIAM BROWNING, Ph.B., M.D. BROOKLYN, N. Y. HE part taken by physicians but part of the larger one of medical in the genesis of the natural pioneering in the sciences. Medicine sciences has long been re- has been termed “Mother of the marked. Their share in the Sciences,” which fits in very well, as development of such lines inMaclure, this a non-medical Scot, is some- Tcountry is worthy of consideration. A times called the father of American similarity in primogenesis of the geology; though, if medico-socialistic sciences here and at large is the more not to say communistic upheavers natural as they were not simply progress, the juniors may become even transplanted but in varying degrees less proud of the old lady. further developed. Especially in geol- The instances so far found of this ogy the necessary application to indi- double form of professional training genous conditions and the rapid are, as follows, the names arranged advance of the subject at that period chronologically according to date of made its origin here comparable to birth. Of course these men did their that of a new science. geologic work years later. Many of the It is from the historic point of names are so well-known that only view, rather than from any special brief mention is necessary. More de- knowledge of geology, that the subject tails are hence given of those whose is here approached, though every sketches in biographic works are im- intelligent person can find interest in perfect or wanting, or whose relation some phase of the science. to this field is little noted. The study was not foreplanned, but 1. William Baylies, a .m., m.d ., originated from casual items in the 1743-1826, b. Mass. P.,* (called Wm. Osler honor volumes (1919). A fuller A. by Merrill). Under date of outline was given in an address, July 1, 1786, he examined and de- Dec. 29, 1928, in “The History of scribed, in “Memoirs of the American Medicine and Civilization” program Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Bos- of Section N (A. A. A. S.) at the ton, 1793, 11, the formation known as New York, Academy of Medicine, Gay Head, Martha’s Vinyard, though published elsewhere without correc- his inference as to its igneous origin tion. It is hoped now to present the was later disallowed. He made a matter with reasonable completeness, special expedition to the Island for so far as known material goes. this purpose. The era of these practical workers Member of Provincial Congress with a medical background has now (1775), state senator and United States lapsed, barring an occasional instance. Congressman (1805-09). (1, v, vi, ix.)f The chapter is therefore ready for 2. Johan David Schoepf, m.d ., 1752- record. In no other branch can such a * P. means practitioner at some period. movement be worked out with more † Appended numbers, in parentheses, indi- mathematical exactness. It is, as noted, cate references at end of article. 1800, b. Germany. P. His “Beytrage the first general work on that subject in zur mineralogischen Kentniss des oest- America; collector; president of Balti- Iichen Theils von Nordamerika & more College of Dental Surgery; bot- seiner Gebiirge, ” Erlangen, 1787, “is anist. A mineral was named for him. commonly regarded as the first sys- (1, iv. And “The Medical Annals of tematic work on American geology.” Md.” Baltimore, 1903.) Also wrote, “Materia medica Ameri- 6. Samuel Brown, a .b ., m.d ., 1769- cana,” Germany, 1787. Schoepf’s 1830, b. Va,., P. Studied partly in “Reise &c.,” translated by Alfred Edinburgh. Professor of chemistry, J. Morrison. 2 vols. Philadelphia, etc., at Transylvania Univ., Ky. “A 1911. leading geologist of the State, and He came to America in 1777 as published numerous articles in Silli- surgeon to the Hessian troops, and man’s Journal and the American travelled here after the peace of 1783. Philosoph. Transactions,” and one He received the title of Geheimer of a cave on Crooked Creek, Ky., in Hofrath after returning home about Am. Mineralogical J. 1784. (v, xin. Also Hirsch’s Biographis- (1, v, x for 1923, p. 387.) ches Lexicon. And Bull. Geological 7. James Mease, a .m., m.d ., 1771- Soc. of America, 1894.) 1846, b. Phila. P., “first American 3. Thomas Cooper, m.d ., ll .d ., antiquarian,” wrote “A Geological 1759-1840, b. England, lecturer on Account of the United States. ” (Phila- geology, publicist, chemist; Professor delphia, 1807.) of Mineralogy and President of South (1, v. Also “Eminent Philadel- Carolina College. In 1802 an article phians,” 1859.) on volcanoes. (1, iv, vi.) 8. Gerard Troost, M.d ., 1776-1850, 4. Hon. Samuel Latham MitchilL b. Holland. P. “Stratigraphic geolo- m.d ., ll .d ., 1764-1831, b. Long Island, gist.” Professor of Mineralogy at P. As State Commissioner he made a Philadelphia Museum. President, geological survey of eastern New Academy of the Natural Sciences. York. State geologist of Tennessee (1831— Wrote “Observations on the Geol- 47). Professor of chemistry, geology ogy of North America,” 1818. and mineralogy at University of Said to have discovered the first Nashville. fossil horse (r, Osborne). His cabinet of specimens sold for President American Mineralogical $20,000 to Louisville Public Library. Soc., 1799. Professor of Natural His- (iv, xii i.) tory, etc., at P. & S. As editor of the 9. Archibald Bruce, a .b ., m.d ., Medical Repository, 1797-1820, he 1777-1818, P. b. New York City. provided the first channel here for Published the first American Mineral- geologic papers, showing thus the ogical Journal. Professor of materia close relationship of those lines at medica and mineralogy in the College the time. United States Senator. of Physicians and Surgeons. Collector. (iv, vi, Pop. Sci. Monthly, 1: 691-6, (1, v, IX.) 1891.) 10. Benjamin Silliman, Sr., m.d ., 5. Horace Henry Hayden, m.d ., ll .d ., 1779-1864, b. Conn. Professor 1768-1844, b. Connecticut, P. “Geo- of chemistry and geology at Yale. logical Essays, ” 1820, said to have been “He made a geologic survey of part of Connecticut, which is believed Pennsylvania. Inventor of blow-pipe. to have been the first similar explora- Meteorologist. Rumford medallist. tion in the United States.” “Did (1, XIII.) more to advance the science of geology 15. Samuel Prescott Hildreth, a .b ., than any other man of his day” in m.d ., 1783-1863, b. Mass. P. On the America. Silliman professorship of geologic survey of Ohio. Wrote on soft Geology at Yale named for him. coal deposits and geology of the Ohio (iv. Alumni Catalogue.) Valley. “For nearly forty years he 11. John Millington, m.d ., 1779- contributed to Silliman’s Journal on 1868, b. England. Professor of Natural meteorology and paleontology.” His- Philosophy at Guy’s Hospital. Mine torian. manager in Mexico, 1827-35. Pro- (1. v. IX.) fessor of Chemistry, etc., at William 16. Chester Dewey, m.d ., d .d ., ll .d ., and Mary, 1835-48. Professor of Geol- 1784- 1867, b. Mass. “Botanist, geol- ogy and Agriculture, University of ogist, chemist.” Wrote much on the Mississippi, 1848-53. State geologist geology of New York State and of Miss.; 1 report in 1850. Professor Western Massachusetts. at Memphis Med. Coll., 1853. Wrote “Mineralogy and geology of the on gold mines in Va., in Trans. Geo- Vicinity of Williams College” in Am. logical Soc. Pa., 1: 1835. J. Sci., 1: 1818, (v, xv. Biography by Prof. G. F. “Taconic Range &c.” Ibid, 1820. Holmes in Wm. Mary College Mammoth, ibid, 1838. Geology of Quarterly, 23-35, 1923.) Berkshire County, 1829. 12. Parker Cleaveland, Jr., m.d ., Professor of Chemistry and Natural ll .d ., 1780-1858, b. Mass. “Made a Sciences at the University of Roches- geological and mineralogical survey ter, and Berkshire Medical College. of part of New England,” wrote (1. v. XII.) “Mineralogy and Geology” (1816), 17. Samuel Akerly, a .m., m.d ., Professor at Bowdoin and Dean of 1785- 1845 b. N. Y., P. Wrote “A Medical School. Geological Account of Dutchess (1, IX.) County, N. Y. ” in Am. Minerol. 13. Dr. John Steele, 1780-1838, b. J. of 1810. Also wrote “On the Geol- Mass. “Physician and Scientist of ogy of the Hudson River Valley & Saratoga Springs.” Wrote “Snake Vicinity” (1820-29). A charter mem- Hill and Saratoga Lake and its En- ber American Geological Society in virons,” 1825; President of New York 1819. Brother-in-law of Mitchill. (No. State Medical Society. 4 supra.) American editor of Hooper’s (v. Also Stone’s “Reminiscences of Medical Dictionary. Saratoga,” 1875.) (v, xi. And Columbia Alumni.) 14. Robert Hare, m.a ., m.d ., 1781— 18. John Locke, m.d ., 1792-1856, 1858, b. Pa. v. President of American b. Maine. P. on geologic survey, State Geological Society in 1819. Had vari- of Ohio and northwest territory of ous geologists as students. United States. Professor of chemistry Experiments “on anthracite, plum- at medical college of Ohio, botanist; bago, & c.” Am. J. Sci., 1825. Pro- President, American Association of fessor of Chemistry at University of Geologists. (i. Also, “Life & Character,” by 24. Edwin James, a .b ., m.d ., 1797- M. B. Wright, m.d ., 1857, Cincinnati.) 1861, b. Vermont. Geologist and bota- 19. James Ellsworth DeKay, m.d ., nist to Long’s 1819-20 Rocky 1792-1851, b. Portugal, of American Mountain Expedition. Wrote much on parents, P, in New York City, and later geology of Mississippi Valley; also on lived on Long Island. Prepared five zoo- sandstones, limestones and trap rocks. logical volumes for the first New York Surgeon United States Army. State Geological Survey.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Plant Press
    Special Symposium Issue continues on page 14 Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 20 - No. 3 July-September 2017 Botany Profile Plant Expeditions: History Has Its Eyes On You By Gary A. Krupnick he 15th Smithsonian Botani- as specimens (living or dried) in centuries field explorers to continue what they are cal Symposium was held at the past. doing. National Museum of Natural The symposium began with Laurence T he morning session began with a History (NMNH) and the U.S. Botanic Dorr (Chair of Botany, NMNH) giv- th Garden (USBG) on May 19, 2017. The ing opening remarks. Since the lectures series of talks focusing on the 18 symposium, titled “Exploring the Natural were taking place in Baird Auditorium, Tcentury explorations of Canada World: Plants, People and Places,” Dorr took the opportunity to talk about and the United States. Jacques Cayouette focused on the history of plant expedi- the theater’s namesake, Spencer Baird. A (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) tions. Over 200 participants gathered to naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, and presented the first talk, “Moravian Mis- hear stories dedicated col- sionaries as Pioneers of Botanical Explo- and learn about lector, Baird was ration in Labrador (1765-1954).” He what moti- the first curator explained that missionaries of the Mora- vated botanical to be named vian Church, one of the oldest Protestant explorers of at the Smith- denominations, established missions the Western sonian Institu- along coastal Labrador in Canada in the Hemisphere in the 18th, 19th, and 20th tion and eventually served as Secretary late 1700s.
    [Show full text]
  • Hay Fever Holiday: Health, Leisure, and Place in Gilded-Age America
    600 gregg mitman Hay Fever Holiday: Health, Leisure, and Place in Gilded-Age America GREGG MITMAN summary: By the 1880s hay fever (also called June Cold, Rose Cold, hay asthma, hay cold, or autumnal catarrh) had become the pride of America’s leisure class. In mid-August each year, thousands of sufferers fled to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, to the Adirondacks in upper New York State, to the shores of the Great Lakes, or to the Colorado plateau, hoping to escape the dreaded seasonal symptoms of watery eyes, flowing nose, sneezing fits, and attacks of asthma, which many regarded as the price of urban wealth and education. Through a focus on the White Mountains as America’s most fashionable hay fever resort in the late nineteenth century, this essay explores the embodied local geography of hay fever as a disease. The sufferers found in the White Mountains physical relief, but also a place whose history affirmed their social identity and shaped their relationship to the natural environment. And, they, in turn, became active agents in shaping the geography of place: in the very material relationships of daily life, in the social contours of the region, and in the symbolic space that nature inhabited. In the consumption of nature for health and pleasure, this article suggests, lies an important, yet relatively unexplored, source for understanding changing perceptions of environment and place and the impact of health on the local and regional transformation of the North American landscape. keywords: climatotherapy, hay fever, leisure, nature conservation, tourism, wilderness, place I owe special thanks to Martha V.
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 56, No. 2 Massachusetts Archaeological Society
    Bridgewater State University Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Journals and Campus Publications Society Fall 1995 Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 56, No. 2 Massachusetts Archaeological Society Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/bmas Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Copyright © 1995 Massachusetts Archaeological Society This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 56 (2) FALL 1995 CLAMSHELL BLUFF, CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS: The Concord Shell Heap and Field at Clamshell Bluff: Introduction and History. Shirley Blancke 29 Clamshell Bluff: Artifact Analyses Shirley Blancke 35 Freshwater Bivalves of the Concord Shell Heap . Elinor F. Downs 55 Bone from Concord Shell Heap, Concord, Massachusetts Tonya Baroody Largy 64 Archaeological Turtle Bone Remains from Concord Shell Heap Anders G. J. Rhodin 71 Clamshell Bluff: Summary Notes Shirley Blancke and Elinor F. Downs 83 BriefNote to Contributors 34 Contributors 84 THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Inc. P.O.Box 700, Middleborough, Massachusetts 02346 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Officers: Curtiss Hoffman, 58 Hilldale Rd., Ashland MA 01721 .. .. President Betsy McGrath, 9 Oak St., Middleboro MA 02346. ... V.ice President Thomas Doyle, P.O. Box 1708, North Eastham MA 02651 .... Clerk Irma Blinderman, 31 Buckley Rd., Worcester MA 01602 . ........... Treasurer Ruth Warfield, 13 Lee St., Worcester MA 01602 ... Museum Coordinator, Past President Elizabeth A. Little, 37 Conant Rd., Lincoln MA 01773 .... Bulletin Editor Lesley H. Sage, 33 West Rd., 2B, Orleans MA 02653 ..... Corresponding Secretary Trustees (Term expires 1997[*]; 1996 [+]): Kathleen S.
    [Show full text]
  • How a Harvard Doctor's Sordid Murder Launched Modern Forensic Anthropology
    How A Harvard Doctor's Sordid Murder Launched Modern Forensic Anthropology Aug 26, 2016 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2016/08/26/how‐a‐harvard‐doctors‐sordid‐murder‐launched‐modern‐forensic‐anthropology/#6e1dd3e9be9f The history of modern forensic anthropology is a bit murky. As an applied science rather than a "pure" one, forensics was shunned for decades, its findings inadmissible in court. But the 19th century murder of a Harvard Medical School doctor launched the field, revolutionized law in the process, and began our longstanding fascination with TV shows like CSI and Bones. The story starts just before Thanksgiving in 1849, when Dr. George Parkman went missing. Parkman was from a wealthy Boston family, an old‐timey Doogie Howser who entered Harvard at age 15. He went to medical school in Scotland, returning after the War of 1812. Parkman donated some land in Boston to Harvard Medical College so that the school could relocate from Cambridge. He was also well‐known for lending money from his considerable fortune and for walking around town to collect on those debts. Left: Dr. George Parkman. Right: Dr. John Webster. Images from: Trial of Professor John W. Webster, for the murder of Doctor George Parkman. Reported exclusively for the N.Y. Daily Globe (1850). Images in the public domain, via NIH National Library of Medicine. A professor of chemistry and geology at Harvard, John White Webster, was one of those debtors. He had been having financial problems, requiring him to give up his family's Cambridge mansion. Webster's salary as a lecturer at Harvard simply didn't cover his grandiose lifestyle.
    [Show full text]
  • Nov07 NUCLEUS Aa4b
    DED UN 18 O 98 F http://www.nesacs.org N Y O T R E I T H C E N O A E S S S L T A E A C R C I N S M S E E H C C TI N O CA February 2009 Vol. LXXXVII, No. 6 N • AMERI Monthly Meeting Professor Wilton L. Virgo of Wellesley College to Speak at Simmons College Tips for Job Seekers By Megan Driscoll Summer Scholar Report Identification of Genes Regulated by Transcriptional Regulator, p8 By Derek Kong This Month in Chemical History By Harold Goldwhite, California State University, Los Angeles February Historical Events in Chemistry by Leopold May, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC February 1, 1905 methods for the determination of ing and used it against pellagra and Fifty years ago, Emilio Segré shared crystal structures, was born on this pursued the idea that diseases such the Nobel Prize in Physics (1959) day. as beriberi, scurvy, rickets and pella- with Owen Chamberlain for their gra were caused by lack of vital sub- discovery of the antiproton. He co- February 16, 1955 stances in the diet. discovered technetium with C. Per- F. P. Bundy, H. T. Hall, H. M. Strong rier in 1937, and astatine with D. R. and R. H. O. Wentoff announced the February 25, 1880 Corson and R. MacKenzie in 1940, synthesis of diamonds at General Arthur B. Lamb, who was the editor and demonstrated the existence of Electric Research Laboratories on of the Journal of the American the antiproton in 1955.
    [Show full text]
  • Biography of Augustus Addison Gould
    BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD. 1805-1866. JEFFRIES WYMAN. WITH ADDITIONS BY WILLIAM HEALEY DALL. READ BBFORE THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, A PHIL 22, 1903. (8) 91 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD. The subject of this memoir descended from true pioneer stock and since heredity, especially of men of eminence, has a scien- tific as well as a personal interest, it is well to include here a brief notice of his lineage, derived from family documents. The earliest ancestors noted are Zaccheus Gould, of Boving- don, Herts, England, who emigrated to America about 1638 and died, aged 81, in 1670; and John Durant, or Duren, supposed French Huguenot, who emigrated in November, 1659, and in 1670 married Susannah Dalton. One of the Durens, grandfather of our late associate, was a builder of note and designed a truss bridge which he erected over Pawtucket Falls, near Lowell, Mass., one of the earliest self-supporting bridges built in this country. His son, Nathaniel Gould Duren, was born in Bedford, Mass., in 1781, and when eleven years of age went to live with a maternal uncle at New Ipswich, N. H. This uncle, Nathaniel Gould, adopted his nephew, whose name was changed by legal process to Nathaniel Duren Gould. Young Gould, November 15, 1801, married Sally Andrews Prichard, of Welsh extraction, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Old Rowley, now Boxford, Mass. This marriage was blessed with eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The second child and first survivor, born at New Ipswich, April 23, 1805, was AUGUSTUS ADDTSON GOULD, the subject of this memoir.
    [Show full text]
  • A Description of Two Additional Crania of the Engé-Ena
    From the American Journal of Science and Arts, Second Series, Vol. IX. A DESCRIPTION OF TWO ADDITIONAL CRANIA OF THE ENGE-ENA, (Troglodytes gorilla, Savage,) from Gaboon, Africa. BY JEFFRIES WYMAN, M.D. Read before the Boston Society of Natural History, Oct. 3d, 1849. The evidence now existing of a second and gigantic African species of man-like ape, as appears from published reports, con- sists of the following remains;—1. Four crania in the United States, two males and two females, of a large portion of a male skeleton, and of the pelvis and of some of the bones of a female. These were the first remains of this animal which had been brought to the notice of naturalists, and were described in the Boston Journal of Natural History.*—2. Three other crania sub- sequently discovered exist in England and have been made the subject of an elaborate memoir by Prof. Owen, in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.f—3. Quite recently, Dr. George A. Perkins, for many years an able and devoted laborer in the Missionary enterprise at Cape Palmas, W. Africa, has brought to the United States, two additional crania, one of which is depos- ited in the Museum of this Society, and the other in that of the * See Proceedings of the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Aug. 18, 1847; also a descrip- tion of characters and habits of Troglodytes gorilla, by Thomas S. Savage, M.l)., Corresp. Memb. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., and of the Osteology of the same by Jeffries Wyman, M.D., Boston Journ.
    [Show full text]
  • T/Iieuicanauseum
    >t/iieuicanAuseum PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK 24, N.Y. NUMBER 1723 APRIL 29, 1955 Studies of Peruvian Birds. No. 66 The Swallows (Hirundinidae) BY JOHN T. ZIMMER I am again indebted to Dr. William H. Phelps of Caracas, Mr. James Bond and Mr. Rodolphe de Schauensee of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mr. James Greenway of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, and to Dr. Allan R. Phillips of Tucson, Arizona, for the loan of critical material used in the following studies. Names of colors are capitalized when direct comparison has been made with Ridgway's "Color standards and color nomenclature." Progne chalybea chalybea (Gmelin) [Hirundo] chalybea GMELIN, 1789, Systema naturae, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 1026- based on Hirundo cayanensis Brisson, Ornithologie, vol. 2, p. 495, pl. 46, fig. 1, and Daubenton, Planches enlumin6es, pl. 545, fig. 2; Cayenne. Progne leucogaster BAIRD, 1865 (May), Smithsonian Misc. Coll., no. 181, p. 280-various localities in Mexico, Guatemala, [El] Salvador, Costa Rica, Pa- namA, and Colombia; type in U. S. Natl. Mus. from Cajab6n, Guatemala. Puerto Indiana, 3 c, 2 9 ; Morropon, 4 c, 2 9. Compared with 118 additional skins from central Brazil north to the three Guianas and Trinidad, to the eastward, and Mexico and Texas, to the westward, with all intermediate countries except British Hon- duras represented in the series. A random sample of 15 males and 11 females from throughout the range shows the males to have the wing 124-138 mm. (average, 131.7); tail, 58-66 (62.5); females, wing, 121- 132 (130); tail, 54-65 (61).
    [Show full text]
  • Asa Gray's Plant Geography and Collecting Networks (1830S-1860S)
    Finding Patterns in Nature: Asa Gray's Plant Geography and Collecting Networks (1830s-1860s) The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Hung, Kuang-Chi. 2013. Finding Patterns in Nature: Asa Gray's Citation Plant Geography and Collecting Networks (1830s-1860s). Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Accessed April 17, 2018 4:20:57 PM EDT Citable Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11181178 This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASH Terms of Use repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA (Article begins on next page) Finding Patterns in Nature: Asa Gray’s Plant Geography and Collecting Networks (1830s-1860s) A dissertation presented by Kuang-Chi Hung to The Department of the History of Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History of Science Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts July 2013 © 2013–Kuang-Chi Hung All rights reserved Dissertation Advisor: Janet E. Browne Kuang-Chi Hung Finding Patterns in Nature: Asa Gray’s Plant Geography and Collecting Networks (1830s-1860s) Abstract It is well known that American botanist Asa Gray’s 1859 paper on the floristic similarities between Japan and the United States was among the earliest applications of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory in plant geography. Commonly known as Gray’s “disjunction thesis,” Gray's diagnosis of that previously inexplicable pattern not only provoked his famous debate with Louis Agassiz but also secured his role as the foremost advocate of Darwin and Darwinism in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Available Only Within the Gorilla Journal PDF File
    Gorilla Extract from No. 11 December 1995 Journal Men who Named the African Apes During the colonial times, many re searchers and explorers set out to discover Africat and its fl ora and fauna. They observed un known animals and brought home skulls and bones which were sub se quently described and ana lyzed. Some subspecies of the African apes were named after the fi rst cau ca sians who had come into contact with these animals. Central chimpanzee (Pan troglody tes troglodytes Blumenbach, 1779) Western chimpanzee (Pan troglo dytes verus Schwarz, 1934) Eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglo dytes schweinfurthii Giglioli, 1872) Bonobo (Pan paniscus Schwarz, 1929) Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla Savage and Wyman, 1847) Mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei Matschie, 1903) Eastern lowland or Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla gorilla graueri Matschie, 1914) Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) He studied in Jena and Göttingen, and in 1776 he became a professor of me dicine in Göttingen. His special inter ests were comparative anatomy, natu ral history and anthropology, of which he is re garded as the founder. More over, he had a solid education in philo sophy which also infl uenced his scien tifi c endeavours. In 1779 he published the fi rst edition of his standard work Handbuch der Na tur geschichte (Hand book of Natural His tory). In this book he also de scribed the chimpanzee in Latin - in the fi rst edi tion he wrote: Troglodytes, der Chimpanse. S. macrocephala, torosa dorso et hu meris pilosis, reliquo corpore glabro. (Tro glo dytes, the chimpan zee. Mon key with large head, muscular back and hairy upper arms, rest of body bald.) Blumenbach added some remarks about this ape in the sixth edition of his handbook.
    [Show full text]
  • President's Report
    KASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. t PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR THE Year ending" Sept. 30, 1875, BOSTON: PRESS Or A. A. KINGMAN, I8'/6. ~i~ 1~i i MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR THE Year ending Sept. 30~ 1875. BOSTON : PRESS OF A. A. KINGMAN. 1876. , , , ~ ', Extracts from Acts of the General Court of Jl,[assachusetts, in relation to he Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Act of Incorporation. "William B. Rogers [and others named], their associates and successors, are hereby made a body corporate, by the name of the M.~SSA- CHUSliTTS INSTITUTEOF T~CHNOLOGY, for the purpose of instituting and maintaining a Society of Arts, a Museum of Arts, and a School of Industrial Science, and aiding generally, by suitable means, the advancement, development, and practical appli- cation of sciences in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce." Chapter 183, Acts and ~e~oZves of 1861. Grant of Public Lands. "When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shall have been duly organized, located, and established, ...... there shall be appropriated and paid to its treasurer, each year, on the warrant of the Governor, for ~i~ ~ its endowment, support, and maintenance, one third part of the annual interest or Income which may be received from the fund created under and by virtue of the 130th chapter of the Acts of the 37th Congress~ at the second session thereof, approved July 2, 1862 [giving Public Lands to the States in aid of instruction in Agriculture, the Mechanic Arts, and Military Science and Tactics] ...... Said Institute of Technology, in addition to the objects set forth in its Act of Incorporation [as above quoted], shall provide for instruction in military tactics." Chapter 186, Acts and _Resolvesof 1863.
    [Show full text]
  • Life of Sir William E. Logan
    %:% : LIFE SIR WILLIAM E. LOGAN, It., LL.D., F.E.S., F.G-.S., &c. first director of the geological survey of canada. Chiefly Compiled feom his Letters, Journals and Reports. BERNARD J. HARRINGTON, B.A., Ph.D., PROFESSOR 01' MINING IN M'GILL UNIVERSITY ; LATE CHEMIST AND MINERALOGIST TO THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP CANADA. WITH. STEEL PORTRAIT AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS. EonBon SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 1883 6 PREFACE. rPHE task of preparing a biography of Sir William Logan was not a self-imposed one, and was only undertaken with feelings of great delicacy. There are those who knew him longer and more intimately, and who might have done far better justice to his memory. But the work having been entrusted to me, I have endeavoured to discharge it faithfully. My aim has not been to write a eulogium or yet a lengthy criti- cism of Sir William, but rather to bring together such of his own words as will recall him to the minds and hearts of old friends, or enable those who were not privileged with his acquaintance to form for them- selves an estimate of his character and work. Canadians cannot afford to forget the name of oije who laboured so long and so earnestly to promote the interests of this his native land, and if the following pages in any way serve to keep green the memory of Sir William Logan, their compiler will feel more than repaid. We have plenty of Canadians able and willing vi. PREFACE. to work for themselves, but too few who, like Logan, are willing to work for Canada.
    [Show full text]